2 25 - Birthday
by Galaxy-Defending-Hopeful
Summary: 2/25 for a prompt table. Prompt was 'birthday'. Tom is thirty, and he feels old - so the guys and his family decide to host one giant birthday bananza to put his fears to rest. Mild swearing, future!fic.


'Birthday'

Thirty. Tom sighed as he thought of it. Tomorrow, he was going to be three whole decades old. Life was amazing – McFly was going brilliantly, with their seventh album having jumped straight to number one the previous month. His family was going brilliant, with his daughter just approaching one and his brilliant wife Gi approaching five months pregnant. But still, the thought of being thirty whole years old was alarming.

"What's wrong, love?" Gi asked as the two changed into pyjamas that night. Gi was more tired with this pregnancy, and with Tom feeling so glum, verging on depressed, neither were in the mood for sex. As such, they had been wearing pyjamas more and more regularly over the last couple of months.

"Nothing." Tom replied, climbing under the duvet. Gi was about to say something in reply when they heard a thin, pealing wail from the next room.

"I'll get her." Tom immediately said, and was out of the room in a shot. Holding his child in his arms, his pains were soothed for a little while. Sure, he wasn't going to be in his twenties any more, but did it really matter? He had his family, and his friends, and his job...maybe it'd be okay. Putting his baby back down, though, the feelings vanished. Her youth was like a ropeladder to him as he fell down the cliff of depression – putting her down made rung after rung break. Heading back to bed, he gave up fighting the growing mould of depression and let the darkness seep through him.

* * *

"Tom, there's something wrong. What is it?" Giovanna frankly asked when Tom returned, her hand laid on her bulging tummy.

"Nothing, Gi. I'm fine."

Gi moved her hand from her stomach and gently took Tom's palm into hers. "No, you're not, love."

Tom glanced sadly at his wife, but forced himself to swallow his feelings and smile, moving his hand from her own to her shoulder and pulling her into a tight hug.

"I love you, Giovanna Fletcher."

She gave a little laugh. "I love you too, Thomas Fletcher. I've loved you for nearly seventeen years, and if I have a chance I'll love you for seventy more."

The two cuddled together and fell asleep tangled together into one heartbeat of love and tranquility, all depression briefly masked by the pure high of true love.

* * *

When Tom woke up the next morning, the room was empty and the house was quiet. Gi had opened the windows, and her pyjamas were neatly folded on top of her pillow. His birthday. Resigned to growing old, he shuffled out of bed and quickly donned a T-shirt and jeans, both of which he noted were a little tight on him. He gave a little, half-hearted smile at that – maybe fat-Tom was coming back. Yawning, he stumbled downstairs. The living room was empty. The kitchen was empty. Where was Gi? Where was his daughter? Pouring himself a glass of water at the sink, he looked up to the window that looked out onto his garden – and took a double take. In the garden was a bouncy castle. Nearer the house was a marquee, underneath which was a table laden with gifts. In the garden, strewn about, were his family. His mum, dad, Gi, Carrie, Giorgina, Kim, Mario...everyone. The guys, amongst some other friends, were also there (Dougie was holding the baby – he had proved surprisingly skilled at caring for her, and she absolutely loved him). Glass shattered as Tom dropped his water and ran out of the backdoor.

* * *

You know when you have a bear hug from someone, and you feel like they're squeezing your innards out? Tom experienced that, but times thirty – seemingly everyone leapt on him at the same time, grabbing and squeezing and loving. When they all surged away, Harry stood on a chair, seemingly a spokesperson for the entire group.

"Not to be rude, Tom, but you've been a bit of a twat for the past couple of months."

Tom smiled at his friend's brutal honesty, which he used to hate but now appreciated immensely.

"Some of us got together and we worked out that you were stressing over turning thirty. We've all organised this for you to have fun today, and act like the child you really are. I mean, you're worried about turning thirty – you have more toys than the average child, Tom, I don't think you need to worry about getting old any time soon. Anyway, relax and enjoy the party!"

Harry jumped down from the chair, and from a little speaker that Danny had rigged up, music started playing. The party began.

* * *

Tom found that among his regular presents – clothes, a new ukulele as his old pink one was pretty much done with life, some books – there were some that were some more suited to someone a tenth of his age old. One particularly small package from Danny was opened to reveal a box of Toy Story lego men and women, which made him laugh. Another parcel, this one from Carrie (his sister), revealed a Back To The Future action man type doll set, with Marty McFly and Emmett Brown along with a little toy DeLorean. He felt the depression dissolving away as he fingered his new toys, fantasising about where he would put them in the house (they had to be suitably high up that the baby couldn't get them, but not so high that they weren't on display).

* * *

After a while, most of the friends and family went home, leaving Tom, Gi, the baby, Dougie, Danny , Harry and James Bourne alone together. It was quite late, and the baby soon fell asleep, so the adults in the room were able to talk properly.

"Feeling better now, Tom?" Dougie asked.

Tom nodded.

"If he's like this at thirty, god help us all when he's fifty." Danny grinned, getting laughs from everyone.

Tom fondly remembered his thirtieth birthday as one of his best for the rest of life, right up until his death aged ninety-three.


End file.
